SOCHI DAILY NEWS: Monday Feb. 10

It was a proud moment for every kid in every terrain park across America. Just 24 hours after Sage Kotsenburg watched the stars and stripes rise against the backdrop of the Olympic flame, South Lake Tahoe's Jamie Anderson couldn't stop smiling as a gold medal was placed around her neck. In the debut of the newest Olympic event, Team USA is two for two in gold – a testament to the relevance of the new sports in America.

ALPINE

Travis Ganong made his Olympic debut Thursday, finishing fifth in the downhill for the best finish of his young career.

After a slow start, Ganong, who started seventh, charged the bottom of the course to win the last two intervals and finish in the lead.

Ganong entered the Olympics with a career-best weekend in Kitbuehel, finishing seventh in downhill and sixth in super G.

Clouds moved into Rosa Khutor for the first time in four days, creating different light conditions from what the athletes experienced in each of the three training runs.

Pre-race favorite Bode Miller, who won two of the three training runs, finished eighth.

Miller again started fast then took an incredibly tight line above the Bear Jump and plowed through a panel, causing him to lose time toward the finish.

Miller was heartbroken, but has four more races in these Olympics and is super motivated to perform.

Steven Nyman was 27th and Marco Sullivan 30th. It was the only start of the Olympics for Nyman.

It was the final Olympic start for Sullivan, who will finish the World Cup season and perhaps race to 2015, but does not plan to race to 2018

Miller, Andrew Weibrecht and Jared Goldberg will also start the race for U.S. men.

The women’s downhill is Wednesday.

QUOTESTravis GanongI had no idea what I would feel like kicking out of the starting gate today. I just let myself relax and let my skiing take over.

Bode MillerI would’ve loved to win. This is the premier event. I’ve thought about it quite a bit. I thought I had a good chance at it. I was well prepared. I skied well enough, but it just doesn’t happen sometimes. I was disappointed not to have a better result next to my name.

CROSS COUNTRY

Noah Hoffman skied into the top spot for Team USA Sunday, finishing 35th in the Olympic skiathlon at the Laura Cross Country Ski Center.

Hoffman was tracking well through the classic portion until he came around a 180-degree corner into the stadium and crashed, breaking a pole.

Erik Bjornsen finished 42nd, Brian Gregg 47th and Kris Freeman 54th.

Coverage of the men’s skiathlon airs on NBC Sunday at 2:00 p.m. EST and can be streamed online at NBCOlympics.com.

Men’s and women’s freestyle sprints are scheduled for Tuesday Feb. 11 and will feature World Champion Kikkan Randall in her quest to become the first American woman to ever win a cross country medal.

FREESKIING

The halfpipe athletes arrived to the mountains Sunday and got settled into their new housing for the next few weeks.

U.S. freeskiing athletes attended women’s slopestyle snowboarding finals and cheered on their Team USA teammates.

They are all fired up to continue the momentum onto their own events.

Maggie Voisin had a busy day talking to media about her ankle injury and subsequent withdrawal from Olympic competition.

Voisin is looking forward to enjoying the remainder of the games and taking in every experience the Games have to offer, especially cheering on her fellow U.S. Freeskiing teammates.

FREESTYLE

Sunday was a cloudy night for men's training as they prepared for a full day of competition tomorrow, kicking off at 6:00 p.m.

Brad Wilson and Pat Deneen will muscle through four to five runs on their quest to an Olympic podium.

The aerials team checked out the course for the first time Sunday.

Emily cook will be making her third Olympic appearance, Ashley Caldwell her second and Mac Bohonnon his first.

After being awarded the bronze medal, Hannah Kearney visited USA House and presented coach Garth Hagar with the Order of Ikkos award for his work with the freestyle athletes.

NORDIC COMBINED

The first official training session took place Sunday for nordic combined athletes.

It marked a return to ski jumping for flag bearer Todd Lodwick after suffering a shoulder injury last month.

There will be a media opportunity in venue Sunday from 1:00 p.m. -2:30 p.m. after the athletes jump.

The first nordic combined event is scheduled for Wednesday.

SKI JUMPING

Three men that competed in ski jumping finals including Nick Alexander, Peter Frenette and Anders Johnson.

Nick Alexander led Team USA Sunday, finishing 35th in the opening ski jumping event of the 2014 Sochi Olympic Winter Games at the RusSki Gorki Jumping Center.

Alexander just missed the top-30-seeded final round at the normal hill event, where Poland’s Kamil Stoch went on to take the gold medal. Slovenia’s Peter Prevc and Norway’s Anders Bardal took silver and bronze respectively.

Her smooth style during the final run secured her the gold with a score of 95.25, putting her on top of the podium ahead of Finland’s Enni Rukajarvi and Great Britain’s Jenny Jones, who took silver and bronze.

Team USA’s Karly Shorr rode into sixth in the women’s final, while Ty Walker and Jessika Jenson finished 13th and 14th respectively, just missing the cut for the 12-person final.

Sochi Olympics TV Viewers Guide For the next 18 days, the world will be captivated by stories of athletic success. American ski and snowboarding fans can watch it all live on NBC Olympics.com along with extensive network broadcast coverage. Comprehensive coverage of the Olympic Winter Games from Sochi kicks off on Thursday, Feb. 6 at 8:00 p.m. ET with preliminary rounds of slopestyle snowboarding and freestyle moguls skiing. Television coverage of the Sochi Games will feature an unprecedented 18 consecutive NBC primetime shows, beginning Thursday, Feb. 6, continuing with Friday night's Opening Ceremony and concluding Sunday, Feb. 23 with the Closing Ceremony.

LIVE STREAM Throughout the Games, every skiing and snowboarding event will be streamed LIVE onStream.NBCOlympics.com and via the NBC Sports Live Extra mobile app (iPhone/iPad | Android).